Because he is a terrible human. Ask any member of the women's basketball team in the past 4 years and they will all have the same opinion. Everyone transferred because of him and more than 3 threatened to transfer if he came back. That is why Vachon got the job (that and she has been an incredible coach and leader).

The entire men's team is livid with this hire. They weren't sure it could get worse than Walsh but they are starting to prove otherwise. It will only show in time how much every athlete at Maine hates Barron. He is manipulative, has mental issues, and is a terrible, terrible person.

Have you spoken to every member of the men's basketball team in the past two hours?

Starting salary at $160K. This was in the works for a while. It just seemed to good to be true.

I liked how this team played toward the end of conference play. Ignore Barron can keep all of the pieces and build upon it, then things will change quickly. You have to build the fan base, which will be considerably easier than building the women’s fan base, which eventually will die off (literally, unfortunately).

Because he is a terrible human. Ask any member of the women's basketball team in the past 4 years and they will all have the same opinion. Everyone transferred because of him and more than 3 threatened to transfer if he came back. That is why Vachon got the job (that and she has been an incredible coach and leader).

The entire men's team is livid with this hire. They weren't sure it could get worse than Walsh but they are starting to prove otherwise. It will only show in time how much every athlete at Maine hates Barron. He is manipulative, has mental issues, and is a terrible, terrible person.

By everyone transferring out of the program you mean the 5 players who transferred right after he left the team? As in he was no longer their coach so they no longer wanted to play here?

You have to know that transferring is a months long process. They had already set up transfers before it was announced he left. Don't pretend to know something you don't have inside information about.

Because he is a terrible human. Ask any member of the women's basketball team in the past 4 years and they will all have the same opinion. Everyone transferred because of him and more than 3 threatened to transfer if he came back. That is why Vachon got the job (that and she has been an incredible coach and leader).

The entire men's team is livid with this hire. They weren't sure it could get worse than Walsh but they are starting to prove otherwise. It will only show in time how much every athlete at Maine hates Barron. He is manipulative, has mental issues, and is a terrible, terrible person.

Have you spoken to every member of the men's basketball team in the past two hours?

I have spoken to three of them who are speaking for the rest of the team. Funny how this forum is a bunch of outsiders pretending to know about what it really going on. You're only getting what the media is feeding you. Trust everything I said in the above post. You are more than welcome to approach ANY member of either team and ask them their honest opinions about Barron.

Mainefan827, since you have all the inside information why was he hired? If he was universally hated in Orono why would they give him a 5 year contract and a 33% raise over Walsh? I may not know much but I know that doesn't seem right.

You have to know putting a succession plan into place is a months long process. They had already set up the coaching change before it was announced Walsh was leaving. You clearly have all the inside information so please let us know. (I actually am curious, I've never heard anything negative about Barron until today)

Blackbear28 wrote:Mainefan827, since you have all the inside information why was he hired? If he was universally hated in Orono why would they give him a 5 year contract and a 33% raise over Walsh? I may not know much but I know that doesn't seem right.

You have to know putting a succession plan into place is a months long process. They had already set up the coaching change before it was announced Walsh was leaving. You clearly have all the inside information so please let us know. (I actually am curious, I've never heard anything negative about Barron until today)

I cannot speak to his hiring nor any decisions or opinions of upper management at UMaine Athletics. His leaving was a very quick matter though. Trust me- months did not go into the decision of him taking a leave. He is great friends with the AD so that definitely has something to do with it. Additionally, getting anyone to come to Maine ESPECIALLY after the horrible seasons the men have had is no easy feat.

Being a female in UMaine athletics- you don't exactly feel comfortable voicing feeling emotionally abused to the AD especially when complaints fell on deaf ears in the past and he is so close with Barron. They were literally afraid.

Blackbear28 wrote:Mainefan827, since you have all the inside information why was he hired? If he was universally hated in Orono why would they give him a 5 year contract and a 33% raise over Walsh? I may not know much but I know that doesn't seem right.

You have to know putting a succession plan into place is a months long process. They had already set up the coaching change before it was announced Walsh was leaving. You clearly have all the inside information so please let us know. (I actually am curious, I've never heard anything negative about Barron until today)

I cannot speak to his hiring nor any decisions or opinions of upper management at UMaine Athletics. His leaving was a very quick matter though. Trust me- months did not go into the decision of him taking a leave. He is great friends with the AD so that definitely has something to do with it. Additionally, getting anyone to come to Maine ESPECIALLY after the horrible seasons the men have had is no easy feat.

Being a female in UMaine athletics- you don't exactly feel comfortable voicing feeling emotionally abused to the AD especially when complaints fell on deaf ears in the past and he is so close with Barron. They were literally afraid.

This is a lot more believable than your original post. If he was truly being emotionally abusive then he absolutely shouldn't have gotten the job. It seems strange that he made it through 2 AD's and has been at the university since 2011 and this is the first time it's coming out, however I certainly understand that fear could've been a factor in keeping people quiet. I haven't followed the women's team as closely as the men but it's seemed like outside of last year the women's team hasn't had anywhere near as many transfers as the men since 2011. It doesn't look like players have been very enthusiastic about this on twitter though so you clearly know more than I do.

I hate to see this stuff get personal. This is, after all, as Bill Littlefield says, "Only a Game." But it is a game that a bunch of us take seriously. When the comments become personal and nasty, I prefer to back off. But this time, I have to drop in my two cents.

The Richard Barron that 827 has described is not the Richard Barron who came to my house on a Saturday afternoon about a month after my wife died to bring his condolences and consolation. We talked for the better part of an hour, and though he is younger than me by three decades, he had some wise advice. Had he chosen to pursue the ministry when he faced a crossroads between coaching and pastoral work, he would have succeeded at it. His pastoral counseling skills are first rate. The Richard Barron that 827 described is not the Richard Barron who sent me an email of condolences, as did Amy Vachon, within eight hours of Marilyn dying, and she died during the night so only her family knew she was gone until about three hours before I got Richard's and Amy's emails. I still don't know how they found my email address. I believe I know how they learned that Marilyn had died, but I never asked. I just appreciated their concern and comfort.

Marilyn and I were fans. We were never big contributors. In fact, when she was diagnosed in 2007, we had to stop giving anything to the program, even the couple of hundred bucks that we had ponied up earlier. The chemo and everything else just ate up all the income. So, Richard Barron was not just stroking a big donor. I took it that he was reaching out to someone who shared some interests and who was, and remains, deeply grieved.

Marilyn and I attended a few practices, planned vacations to Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut to coincide with Maine wbb games, so we saw him at work in several settings. He did demand full effort. So does Amy Vachon. I thought he was wrong when he pulled the bench kids out against Clemson after a couple of bonehead plays. I had told my wife when the end of the bench went into the game that I thought he should have kept one starter on the floor as a stabilizer and catalyst. The nature of coaching is that a lot of your bad moments are in public and a lot of your good moments are in practice.

As to players who left because of him, remember this. It's a rather convoluted point, so bear with me. Against UVM at Bangor in 2017, interim coach Vachon rested Sigi and put in a backup point. She put in Maddy McVicar, who had a great few minutes and really lit up the crowd with her play. Someone, perhaps Don Shields, asked her later why Maddy got the call, and she replied that she rewards hard work and no one works harder than Maddy. The designated backup point was Naira Caceras, who was a point guard on the U-19 national team in Spain. I concluded from that episode that Maddy got the nod because she worked harder than Caceras. And Caceras chose to leave. My guess is that Barron and Amy Vachon are cut from the same cloth in that regard, so perhaps Caceras would have left no matter who the coach was. If one player works harder than another player at the same position, reward the hard worker.

I am sad that Bob Walsh didn't make it here. I met him before his first Maine team played a game. We talked a little about men's hoops, of which I know almost nothing, and I needled him about driving like a Rhode Islander up here, which is roughly akin to vehicular suicide. I have felt for the past couple of years that maybe just one important element was missing, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Walsh recruited good players. He seemed a really strong x-and-o man. His players apparently do all right in the classroom. But whatever the mortar is that holds together a men's team just didn't seem to be there. I really do wish him well and hope he finds a good source of turkey Italian sausage wherever he lands.

Analyze and criticize what these coaches do on the court and, if you have full knowledge, in practice. But, please leave the personal stuff out of it unless you can prove conclusively that the person you are condemning is underperforming or even damaging young people through some reason of personality defect and you are brave enough to state exactly what it is. If you need to find coaches to bash, just wait a while for the FBI to finish its investigation of big-time NCAA Div. I football and men's basketball. There may be enough coming out of that to keep the boards hopping for years.

Congratulations again to Coach Barron. And, thank you to both coaches.

Great post Turkeyman Bob! Coach Barron is a demanding division 1 head coach. Same can be said for Bob Walsh for that matter. Some kids just don't want to be coached. They don't want to hear criticism. These kids transfer to 3 different schools and never find that the grass is greener. College athletics is a tough business. Maine has a solid group of kids on both teams. They work hard and I hope they stay at Maine!

turkeyman wrote:I hate to see this stuff get personal. This is, after all, as Bill Littlefield says, "Only a Game." But it is a game that a bunch of us take seriously. When the comments become personal and nasty, I prefer to back off. But this time, I have to drop in my two cents.

The Richard Barron that 827 has described is not the Richard Barron who came to my house on a Saturday afternoon about a month after my wife died to bring his condolences and consolation. We talked for the better part of an hour, and though he is younger than me by three decades, he had some wise advice. Had he chosen to pursue the ministry when he faced a crossroads between coaching and pastoral work, he would have succeeded at it. His pastoral counseling skills are first rate. The Richard Barron that 827 described is not the Richard Barron who sent me an email of condolences, as did Amy Vachon, within eight hours of Marilyn dying, and she died during the night so only her family knew she was gone until about three hours before I got Richard's and Amy's emails. I still don't know how they found my email address. I believe I know how they learned that Marilyn had died, but I never asked. I just appreciated their concern and comfort.

Marilyn and I were fans. We were never big contributors. In fact, when she was diagnosed in 2007, we had to stop giving anything to the program, even the couple of hundred bucks that we had ponied up earlier. The chemo and everything else just ate up all the income. So, Richard Barron was not just stroking a big donor. I took it that he was reaching out to someone who shared some interests and who was, and remains, deeply grieved.

Marilyn and I attended a few practices, planned vacations to Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut to coincide with Maine wbb games, so we saw him at work in several settings. He did demand full effort. So does Amy Vachon. I thought he was wrong when he pulled the bench kids out against Clemson after a couple of bonehead plays. I had told my wife when the end of the bench went into the game that I thought he should have kept one starter on the floor as a stabilizer and catalyst. The nature of coaching is that a lot of your bad moments are in public and a lot of your good moments are in practice.

As to players who left because of him, remember this. It's a rather convoluted point, so bear with me. Against UVM at Bangor in 2017, interim coach Vachon rested Sigi and put in a backup point. She put in Maddy McVicar, who had a great few minutes and really lit up the crowd with her play. Someone, perhaps Don Shields, asked her later why Maddy got the call, and she replied that she rewards hard work and no one works harder than Maddy. The designated backup point was Naira Caceras, who was a point guard on the U-19 national team in Spain. I concluded from that episode that Maddy got the nod because she worked harder than Caceras. And Caceras chose to leave. My guess is that Barron and Amy Vachon are cut from the same cloth in that regard, so perhaps Caceras would have left no matter who the coach was. If one player works harder than another player at the same position, reward the hard worker.

I am sad that Bob Walsh didn't make it here. I met him before his first Maine team played a game. We talked a little about men's hoops, of which I know almost nothing, and I needled him about driving like a Rhode Islander up here, which is roughly akin to vehicular suicide. I have felt for the past couple of years that maybe just one important element was missing, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Walsh recruited good players. He seemed a really strong x-and-o man. His players apparently do all right in the classroom. But whatever the mortar is that holds together a men's team just didn't seem to be there. I really do wish him well and hope he finds a good source of turkey Italian sausage wherever he lands.

Analyze and criticize what these coaches do on the court and, if you have full knowledge, in practice. But, please leave the personal stuff out of it unless you can prove conclusively that the person you are condemning is underperforming or even damaging young people through some reason of personality defect and you are brave enough to state exactly what it is. If you need to find coaches to bash, just wait a while for the FBI to finish its investigation of big-time NCAA Div. I football and men's basketball. There may be enough coming out of that to keep the boards hopping for years.

Congratulations again to Coach Barron. And, thank you to both coaches.

Go, Black Bears. Girls and boys alike.

Bob Neal New Sharon

I am not going to pretend to know him personally. But I do know players personally and I am sharing what I have heard firsthand. From outsiders and the media I've never heard anything but great feedback from him which I'm sure is true. But you can't pretend to know what it's like being a player for him. I say with 100% confidence he had a negative impact on multiple young women's lives. If you ever get the chance to meet one on one with any player from the past 4 years and ask them what it was really like playing for him they'll have nothing but horrible things to say. They may put on a happy face and smile through making something up but it's because they've been trained.

Again, I'm sure he is a great person but as a women's basketball coach I can assure you he caused nothing but pain for his players. If the headlines read "barron to return as umaine womens coach" I guarantee you almost half the team would announce their transfer within a month.